So your web site's online and you've got high rankings in the search engines attracting lots of visitors. But the statistics tell you most of them are leaving after viewing just one page, what's gone wrong?
One possible cause could be a slow download speed of your web site's homepage or the web site as a whole. There is nothing worse than having to wait for a web site to load up. Studies indicate that the majority of visitors will only wait 3 - 5 seconds for a homepage to load up before clicking elsewhere.
If your homepage doesn't load up in this time (from a standard internet connection) you are running the risk of losing lots of visitors before they've even read the content of the homepage.
They Won't Hang Around!
You should always assume that most visitors will be connecting to the Internet using standard equipment - not super-charged fast connections. The main culprits of slow download times for a homepage are images. Just remember - every part of every web page you view has to travel down the phone line and onto your screen - the larger the item the longer this will take to happen.
It is for this reason that you will sometimes notice the text on a web page loads up on your screen before the images. This is because of the simple reason that images are larger in file size than text and therefore take longer to come down the phone line.
The more large images you have your homepage the slower it will be to download. Nobody is saying get rid of all images from a homepage - as with many things in life - they key to success is balance.
Try not to sacrifice your web site's aesthetic for quicker download times but, at the same time, don't have large images or animations on the homepage, as these will take longer to download.
Does Your Homepage Need To Go On A Diet?
As a rule of thumb it is recommended that a homepage be around 40 - 50 Kilobytes in size. Any larger and will be a slow downloading homepage, any smaller and it will be quicker than average. One of the best ways to decrease download times is to reduce the number of images being used or optimise them by reducing the number of colours they use or cropping them slightly.
Other pages on your web site are less important than the homepage when it comes to download speed as by this point users will already have made the commitment to enter the main body of the web site and will therefore be willing to wait a little longer for the information they require.
Michael Cheney is Author of The Website Marketing BibleTM. Take the Free 7-Part Course "Internet Marketing Made Easy" and get your free sampler of 'The Bible' here: http://www.websitemarketingbible.com/marketing/
shuttle from O'Hare Brocton .. Lockport Chicago limo O’HareUnless you are an inventor, most likely you are selling... Read More
Want to know what the worst thing to say on... Read More
You may not bother with html validation or writing simple... Read More
Traffic to a site can be a blessing or a... Read More
New Web sites are springing up online by the millions.... Read More
There are six important characteristics that can play a major... Read More
There is unlimited possibilities when it comes to designing a... Read More
Easy That's how you'd like life to be, right? Especially... Read More
I'm sure you've all heard the saying 'Build it and... Read More
We've all seen and read product testimonials. They're a very... Read More
Squeeze pages are a very hot topic in the internet... Read More
If you have a website, you want your visitors to... Read More
The landing page or entry page of your visitors is... Read More
Effective navigation stands out. It's clear, obvious, and highly visible.You'll... Read More
Everybody talks about the importance of testing your sales copy... Read More
Website Design Usability Tips1. Getting to know about audience membersYou... Read More
Once, I attempted to create a favicon (the little graphic... Read More
In my last article entitled, Maximizing The True Value Of... Read More
Typos, misspellings, hideous grammar, exclamation overkill and run-on sentences all... Read More
When your company built its website, did you think about... Read More
Whether you're hiring a designer who has created 10 sites... Read More
You've thought about it and you're ready to go. You're... Read More
Here's the single most important part of your website: YOUR... Read More
I've written about META tags in the past, and I... Read More
I once created a notepad-like editor. It is possible with... Read More
Chicago charter limousine service Hickory Hills ..As a webmaster you already know how important it is... Read More
For online businesses with their main goal of selling products,... Read More
Learning how to convert visitors to your web site into... Read More
So you need a website. You are not sure if... Read More
FIRST IMPRESSIONS. First impressions often leave lasting impressions. Impressions... Read More
The internet continues to grow and has become the default... Read More
See, works every time. Seriously now, for some reason people... Read More
Choosing a web designer can seem like a daunting task.... Read More
QUESTION: My business is very small, just me and... Read More
Most of us at times need advice on different aspects... Read More
Have you ever thought about the real stories behind all... Read More
Gone are the days when you had to rely on... Read More
Well, a logo for your business. Why is it important?... Read More
When it comes to marketing your website, you should really... Read More
Creating your own website is actually easy in today's world... Read More
Websites, there are literally billions of them out there in... Read More
Everybody talks about the importance of testing your sales copy... Read More
You spend time and money promoting your website; but what... Read More
Many Internet sites that try to sell you something have... Read More
If you'd like to create/maintain a website, having some HTML... Read More
The most popular method to build webpages today is to... Read More
Do you have a website? If so, you need an... Read More
The first immutable law of effective navigation: It's gotta be... Read More
Being a writer, when I was asked to do some... Read More
Web Design is a very subjective process. Your idea of... Read More
Web Design |